LESSONS LEARNED FROM STRIVE HORN OF AFRICA

LESSONS LEARNED FROM STRIVE HORN OF AFRICA

STRIVE Horn of Africa (HoA) represents the first P/CVE-specific programme by the European Commission outside the EU with the overall objective to prevent terrorism and to counter violent extremism while continuing to respect human rights and international law. The underlying purpose of STRIVE HoA was to strengthen the understanding of drivers of violent extremism through evidence-based analysis; to develop best practices around P/CVE programming in the Horn of Africa based on short pilot activities; and to provide recommendations to contribute to increased impact and more focused interventions.

Running from January 2014 to January 2017, the programme has used a number of pilot activities as vehicles for producing results and learning with particular focus on three thematic priority areas: youth engagement, investing in women and capacity-building. The programme activities were implemented according to the four main results areas outlined below:

Building the capacity of security-sector and law-enforcement authorities to engage with civil society in fighting violent extremism;

Strengthening the capacity of women’s organisations in Puntland and Somaliland to fight violent extremism;

Increasing understanding of the challenges faced by EU-born Somali youth in Somaliland;

Increase the understanding of the drivers of radicalisation among youth in Kenya.

A fifth area was subsequently added concerning preventative communications.

Given the STRIVE HoA’s particular focus on learning, an Independent Evaluation as well as a Lessons Learned Conference was included in the programme to be carried out in the final stage of implementation.

The Lessons Learned Conference provided a platform to present and discuss the lessons learned under the four results areas and preventative communication as well as an opportunity for the independent evaluators to present their key findings and recommendations. A broad range of P/CVE colleagues from EU institutions, EU member states, international organisations and civil society participated in the conference. Following the conference a Lessons Learned Report was produced based on the presentations, discussions and key recommendations in relation to the four result areas and preventative communication, while also including the key findings and recommendations of the independent Evaluation Report. To access the Lessons Learned Report, please click here:

The independent evaluation assessed the extent to which the activities of STRIVE HoA have contributed to the overall objectives and to generating learning. The evaluation finds that the pilots activities have achieved a number of positive results, and that STRIVE HoA in several ways has contributed to learning and to increasing the EU’s knowledge about CVE and radicalisation in the Horn of Africa region as well as thematically. The evaluation concludes with a number of forward-looking recommendations concerning the design and delivery of CVE projects in more general terms, the EU engagement in CVE, and the thematic result areas under STRIVE HoA. To access the full Evaluation Report, please click here:

For a more detailed presentation of the STRIVE HoA programme, the result areas and main findings, please see the video presentation below.